A barista reveals the craziest things they've seen at work

The INSIDER Summary:

A barista reveals some crazy things they've witnessed at work. While the coffee shop is anonymous, it sounds like it may be a Starbucks location.

The barista claims that mice get into nearly everything, even the pastry cabinet.

Most baristas are totally hopped up on caffeine... or other substances.

If you've ever worked in foodservice, you know there are some health code rules that fall to the wayside. Typically they're small, inconsequential details and the world lives to see another day. But the confessions of one barista will shake you the core.

Not convinced? The source explains the reason behind their anonymity, saying "I'm fairly certain that I signed a contract that would hold me and several generations of my spawn liable for speaking ill against the company."

Alright, now brace yourself for all of the gross, gritty details you'd never know otherwise.

Baristas are drinking the Kool-Aid, too.

At least, they are at first. During this former barista's first year on the job, "everyone was simpatico and wildly high on caffeine." Espresso kept them upbeat and smiling. After time passes, new managers come along, and you get transferred to another store, though, all of that changes. And that's probably why you're stuck with a disgruntled person who purposely spells your name wrong, completely melts down at the mention of a unicorn Frapp, or just couldn't care less about your "skim, no-whip latte" at a stupid-particular temperature.

Or they might be a little high on something else.

"I discovered our busser... smoking crack down in the basement, which doubled as our storeroom. Another one of our baristas regularly missed work because he had nodded out on heroin. The rest of us mostly stuck to marijuana," the source wrote.

There are mice everywhere.

In the madelines, behind the walk-in refrigerator, in the powdered Frapp mix, in boxes of biscotti, all over the basement. "When we lowered the lights at the end of the night, the mice came out in droves: on the counters, atop the espresso machines, inside the pastry cabinet," the source said. "No matter how many surfaces we sanitized, I always knew that a cup of coffee from our shop was inevitably touched by mouse paws."

Of course, all of this comes with not just a grain but a pound of salt. The things this former employee witnessed and engaged in were not necessarily the fault of the company as a whole, but the local health departments and the stores' supervisors. However, the source noted, "I have never been able to shake the feeling that we weren't the worst crew out there."